


crash course over coffee

by hulklinging



Series: Sapphic Somewhere [2]
Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Flirting Through Literature, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 07:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8136343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: There's a beautiful girl that comes into the coffee shop Teddy works at every morning.The only problem is she never uses the same name twice.The character names she keeps going by are only making Teddy fall harder.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt 'you give me a different fake name every time you come into starbucks and I just want to know your real name bc ur cute but here I am scrawling “batman” onto your stupid cappuccino'. I obviously took some liberties.

Up until a month ago, Teddy had not liked working mornings.

Mornings were always busy, the buzz of cranky customers waiting for their first coffee of the day enough that Teddy felt wired without drinking any herself. She much preferred the later shifts, the slow trickle of customers as they grabbed something warm to go before heading home, that satisfying feeling of locking the doors and turning up the music and putting the store to bed.

Unfortunately, it seems like everyone else that works with her has early classes this semester, which means that Teddy is stuck doing mornings, often with not enough support. It's almost enough to make her wish she was still in classes. Almost.

So yes. Teddy did not like working mornings.

Then the girl started to come in.

She's tall in that coltish way that makes her look one step from stumbling, wire thin frame only accentuated by her tight black jeans and her dark smudgy makeup. She's got a hoop in one ear and Teddy stares at it for longer than she should, really. She writes down the girl's order on autopilot, speeding through the transaction because she wants to put a name to this sharp, stunning face, framed by a mess of black hair and lips that can't be that naturally red, can they?

"And your name?"

The girl's face twists into a wry smile. "Ophelia."

Ophelia. Teddy shouldn't be surprised, of course this waifish beauty has such a classically beautiful name. She wonders if her friends call her by a nickname? She repeats it, like a dumbass, and the girl nods. She probably got that all the time, way to go Altman.

Her voice is low and raspy and Teddy wishes she'd thank her by name just so she could hear her rather plain name made pretty by those lips, but she just smiles absentmindedly and goes to wait by the bar.

Ophelia. Maybe mornings aren't so bad.

The next day, Teddy is the one making drinks. She picks up an order that seems a little familiar (venti hazelnut latte with coconut milk and whip), going through the motions of it while laughing at something Nico said at the till. But when she calls out the name, Ophelia walks forward.

"Nimue?" She says again, just to double check.

"Yeah, that's me," says Nimue-not-Ophelia, and takes her drink and is out the door before Teddy can really recover.

Nimue is also a gorgeous name, of course.

Only the next day, she's going by Éowyn.

Teddy doesn't question it (although she does correct Chase's spelling). Still, it's hard to swoon over a girl when she doesn't even know what name to use.

The upside - her coworkers struggle to tease her because they can't keep up with the names either.

Teddy starts keeping a list, tucked away on a scrap piece of receipt paper. Only on Sunday she comes back from her day off to see it's been taken out from its hiding spot and pinned to the corkboard in the back, with 'TEDDY'S MYSTERY GIRL' written across the top, and a lot of ugly hearts.

"She's more like a high fantasy girl, I think."

Nico rolls her eyes. "Shut up, you nerd."

She's sad she missed Arya, though. Maybe she would have gotten over her fear enough to ask her what she thought of the new season.

That morning it's Viola, and a little wave.

Monday, it's Alanna, and a flash of recognition when Teddy doodles a little lioness rampant next to the name. Teddy lives for that surprised smile.

Tuesday she comes running in, later than usual. Teddy already has the order ready, courtesy of mobile ordering. She doesn't even look at the cup, and it's busy enough that Teddy didn't have anything clever to add to 'Eyre' anyway.

Wednesday it's Jadis.

"Not much of a hero, that one," Teddy can't help but say, passing her the cup.

She shrugs. "I really like witches."

The end of the week takes a detour around iconic female authors, Brontë and Plath and Aemilia. Teddy has to listen to her spell that last one twice, not just because she likes watching her mouth form the letters, and googles it the instant she gets home.

She has Sunday and Monday off, but goes in on Monday anyway on the excuse that she doesn't feel like making her own coffee.

"You just missed her," Cassie tells her, working her one morning shift of the week. "She was Jane yesterday, and Anonymous today."

"I feel like Anonymous is cheating," Teddy says, feeling just a little bit crushed at missing that, of all things.

Cassie laughs. "She said Anonymous was probably a woman more often than not."

She's not wrong. Teddy wants to sit down and talk literature with this girl almost as much as she wants to hold her hand and kiss her neck. It leads to a lot of red cheeks, is all she can say.

Kaye, Katniss, Lyra, Matilda. Liesel.

"Holly? Like... Breakfast at Tiffany's?" Teddy's a little lost on this one.

"No, Holly like Holly Short."

Artemis Fowl. Of course. Teddy grins and leaves a little string of runes along the edge of the cup, because she totally taught herself those when she was younger. The girl laughs as she leaves. Teddy feels like she's floating the rest of the day.

Lucy, Scout, Rosalind, Blue.

"Hermione."

"Really?"

"Hey, I was up all night writing a paper." She does look exhausted. "When in doubt, shoot the wizard."

"I think you're getting your quotes mixed up."

She flips Teddy off, but she's got a spring to her step that was definitely lacking when she walked in, so Teddy counts that as a win.

"Are you kidding me?" Teddy whines, seeing the new additions to the list. "I missed Sappho?"

Chase looks confused. "Why? Is that one important?"

She actually growls out loud.

Teddy puts the accent in Tinúviel and desperately hopes that the girl has noticed the bit of Tengwar she has on her collarbone. Just in case she hasn't, she writes Lúthien's full name in Tengwar on the cup as well. Nico, who is making drinks that morning, rolls her eyes at how long it takes her, but the girl's ear (visible because she's tucked her hair behind it, and Teddy can't believe she's losing her mind over an _ear)_ goes red, so it's so worth it.

"Musichetta isn't ever seen in the book."

"And yet we all remember her. And she has two boyfriends. She's an early feminist icon, in my opinion."

Teddy can't argue with that.

Carmilla. Daja. Nan. Moff.

Teddy tries not to read too much into this.

"Lexa."

"She's not in the book at all."

She shrugs, scowling. "What can I say? I'm still bitter."

"Aren't we all."

Teddy realizes the _we_ is probably going to be interpreted as just 'the fans' and not 'me and all my queer friends', but she goes bright red anyway. The girl is voicing her agreement before Teddy can fall into a spiral of regret, though.

"It's just so ridiculous. Name a show that hasn't killed a lesbian. It's actually difficult to do so."

"Or a bi girl."

"Not that they'd ever say bisexual out loud anyway."

Teddy is in love.

The girl looks down at her phone and swears. "Shit, I'm gonna be late to class. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, yeah of course."

Cassie has to literally snap her fingers in front of Teddy's face to stop her from staring dreamily into space.

"You don't even work tomorrow," she reminds Teddy without mercy.

It's Teddy's turn to swear.

She comes in as they open. Nico rolls her eyes at her.

"Just ask her out already."

"Shh!" Teddy says in a panic, even though she's not due in the cafe for at least thirty two minutes.

Okay, maybe this is getting a little out of hand.

She needs to do something with her fingers while she's waiting, so she pulls out a notebook and starts to doodle. First it's aimless, but then she starts in on a river, a young girl floating down it.

"Ophelia?"

Teddy doesn't look up, because she's almost got the girl's face right. "Yeah, I'm rereading the play..."

Wait. She knows that voice. She looks up at the girl, feeling a little bit caught out.

"Hi." She licks her lips. "Um, I'm Teddy."

"I know. You're usually wearing a name tag."

"Right." Duh. Good one, Teddy.

The girl sticks out her hand. Her black nailpolish is chipping. It looks like it used to have constellations on it. "I'm Billy."

Teddy's heart explodes in her chest. She stands up, shakes Billy's hand, and then pulls out a chair because she's the worst kind of nerd, honestly, but Billy's laughing as she sits down, so maybe it's okay.

"Sorry about that. I just get shit for my name sometimes, and I'm an English Lit major, so I..."

"No! No, it was... It was fun. I learned a lot."

Billy's looking at her sketchbook again. "Do you ever think about what would have changed if she'd lived?"

"Only like, all the time."

"She probably died because she was bisexual."

Teddy snorts, to her horror. But Billy's eyes are bright and she's leaning across the table like she wants to hear what Teddy has to say, and Teddy knows it's such a lesbian stereotype but if she had a ring on her she might do something rash, because she wants Billy to look at her like that forever. Or at least for as long as it takes for them to have a thorough discussion of the treatment of queer lady characters in media. With maybe some time spent on childhood literary heroes, too. And Elizabethan authors, because Billy seems to have the upper hand, there. And Star Wars, and-

"Do you want to get coffee sometime?"

Billy blinks, and looks down at the coffee in her hand. Teddy might die.

"I mean, like. As a date."

"Yes!" Billy reaches up and tucks her hair behind her ear, and Teddy itches to try that, sometime. Maybe just before they're about to kiss.

But she's getting ahead of herself.

"Awesome," she breathes.

They both smile at each other for a beat too long, and then start to giggle at the whole situation.

"Do you... want me to walk you to class?"

"I would... love that. Yeah."

Teddy offers her a hand up, and conveniently forgets to let go as they walk. Billy doesn't say anything, but she's blushing again and neither of them have lost their grins.

Maybe she's not getting as ahead of herself as she thought.

**Author's Note:**

> You can reblog it [here](http://hulklinging.tumblr.com/post/150931724868/coffee-shop-au-iv-for-billyteddy-with-teddy-as). Thanks for reading~


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